Part III The Right to Justice, C Restrictions on Rules of Law Justified By Action to Combat Impunity, Principle 22 Nature of Restrictive Measures

Subject(s):

Asylum — Right to truth — Immunity from jurisdiction — Extradition and mutual assistance — Amnesty — Safeguards — Truth and Reconciliation Commissions

Principle 22 is an overarching guideline to states on the nature of the safeguards and restrictions that they may need to adopt and enforce in order to counter impunity more effectively. It is an umbrella provision listing certain rules or principles in national legal systems which might impede the criminal prosecution or other scrutiny of human rights violations by domestic courts. These rules and principles include those regulating amnesty, prescription (statutory limitations), extradition, the right to asylum, due obedience, repentance, the jurisdiction of military courts and the irremovability of judges. This chapter first provides a contextual and historical background on Principle 22 before discussing its theoretical framework and how the safeguards or restrictive measures outlined in Principle 22 have been applied in practice.